Too bad Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino didn’t make their “Previews of Coming Attractions” — Rodriguez’s Machete and Rob Zombie’s Werewolf Women of the SS — into their “Feature Presentations” in this “parody” of a ’70s Z-movie twin bill. Both get more laughs than either Rodriguez’s Planet Terror or Tarantino’s Death Proof. Terror draws more on Dawn of the Dead and Toxic Avenger than on anything by William Castle, with flesh-eating zombies spawned by chemical weapons terrorizing a Texas town. It consists mostly of exploding heads, bodies splattered by vehicles, and Rose McGowan with an M-16 for a prosthetic leg. Unexpected flashes of wit and black humor kept my interest. As for Tarantino, he’s aging badly: he has a role in both films and looks like a cross between Dan Aykroyd and Bob Hope on a bender. Neither do his trademark affectations, trivia, and fetishism (must a woman’s foot hog the foreground of every scene?) still charm, though a car chase and the come-uppance of a psycho (a lovable Kurt Russell) end the tedium on a high.

Family plots Sidney Lumet may be 83, but his new film makes Quentin Tarantino and even the Coen Brothers look geriatric.

Smokin' Aces Perhaps Joe Carnahan pitched his follow-up to 2002’s Narc as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World by way of Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, and bad wigs. Watch the trailer for Smokin' Aces (QuickTime)

Cannes goods Quick — name a world-class film-festival administrator willing to reveal that at age 12 he was titillated by the sight of clodhopper-shod Minnie Mouse stomping on Mickey's tail in a French comic book.

Review: Inglourious Basterds From the beginning, Tarantino's obsessive self-referentiality and movie allusions never let you forget that you're watching a film.

Interview: Quentin Tarantino Quentin Tarantino began writing the screenplay for Inglourious Basterds more than 10 years ago. When I got him on the phone, he talked about the film's long gestation and how he chose his actors.

Flashbacks(1) The Boston Phoenix has been covering the trends and events that shape our times since 1966. These selections, culled from our back files, were compiled by Chris Brook and Ian Sands.

Review: Alien Trespass If you were ever a fan of those '50s and '60s sci-fi flicks whose trademarks were hoky FX, an eerie theremin soundtrack, and a rubber-suited monster, then Alien Trespass should scratch your nostalgia bone.